DUANE
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Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, here's the story of this place. Longhorn Cavern opened as a state park in 1932, and right from the start, it was the kind of place that demanded something worthy standing above it. The earth had already done its part, carving out something extraordinary down below.
Now it was time for men to build something up top. From 1934 to 1942, Company 854 of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC, worked here. Their job was to explore and develop the cavern, and they took that charge seriously.
Using hand labor and native materials, those workers built the structure you're looking at right now. No heavy machinery doing the heavy lifting. Hand labor.
The kind of work that leaves calluses and pride in equal measure. The style they built in is now known as National Park Service Rustic, a name that does a lot of heavy lifting itself, because there is nothing rough or unfinished about what they accomplished. The one-story stone pavilion was completed by 1936, and from then until 1967 it served as the administrative offices for the park.
Somebody had to run this place, and this is where they did it, in a building that fits the landscape like it grew right out of it. Walk around the outside and you'll find a stairway leading up to an observation terrace, because the people who built this understood that a view is worth the climb. Company 854 put their hands to this stone and left something that outlasted the work itself.
That's the mark of a job done right.
What the marker says
Longhorn Cavern opened as a state park in 1932. From 1934 to 1942, Company 854 of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked here to explore and develop the cavern. Using hand labor and native materials, the CCC workers built this structure in a style now known as National Park Service (NPS) Rustic. Completed by 1936, the one-story stone pavilion served as administrative offices for the park until 1967. An outside stairway leads to an observation terrace. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1989